By Hafidatul Mahmuda
A seminar entitled “Sharing Experiences” was held by Deutsch Welle Club and English Conversation Club on Thursday, 21st of March 2019 yesterday. The event which was attended by all the members of DWC and ECC was successful with the two great speakers from State University of Malang. Frau Diah Ayu Anggraini Hidayati who is the member of Aupair program shared her point of view about language and its importance. She said that language was very important thing because it was the medium to connect all people in the world. In addition, language was a part of habit that should be practiced everyday, so it would be easier for us to master it especially foreign language. It was not only about language topic, but Frau Ayu who is from Deutschabteilung also shared her experiences during living in Austria and the culture of people there. She presented the portrayal of living in another country which would help us to acquire our language skill since we would have direct interaction with the native speakers. In addition, she told the audiences about her struggle to master Deutsch when she was on the first semester of college. The woman who is fluent in speaking Deutsch gave motivation to the students to learn foreign language they love persistently, so it was not too late and difficult to master it. In the end of her speech, Frau Ayu stated, “Learn more, ask more, and improve your skill on foreign language as soon as possible before you regret everything in the end. It is because you are still young, so don’t waste your time.”
In the seminar, not only Frau Ayu who delivered her ideas, but also Miss Nur Deby Putri Maulidya has shared inspirational things which included the importance of continuing study to the university. “I want to have better life and to be a better person, so I pursue my dream by continuing my study on higher level.” stated the woman who is Bidikmisi scholarship awardee. Furthermore, she showed her struggle consisting of success and failure to get her dreams until she eventually got scholarships for 100% free tuition for both her Bachelor and Master degree focusing on English education. Miss Deby— the LPDP Scholarship Awardee majoring in TESOL at King’s College London—presented her experiences when she got some awards and achievements by joining debate competition in Philippines and Singapore in order to inspire the students to have a big dream and improve their foreign language ability. She also emphasized that indeed there would be so many obstacles to reach our precious dreams, but when we were able to know ourselves and we strived for it, our big dreams would come true.
The students of DWC and ECC were very enthusiastic to join every single materials presented by the speakers. They actively participated to ask for some questions and join some challenges given by the speakers. Kharisma and Lavelinia from XI of Language Class accepted one of challenges to share the ideas about motivation on studying foreign language. “Eventhough I’m from a rural area, but I’m motivated to have a very big dream and big effort to achieve it. I’m interested in learning foreign language because I have joined Story Telling competition in UM and I become one of the finalists on it. Since then, I try to improve my English skill and believe that we can study abroad someday. I would like to show people that Orang Kampung like me able to have better achievement and higher education.”
This annually seminar is expected to be able to broaden the students’ knowledge about the usefulness of mastering foreign language. It is in line to Frau Nanik Mahiroh—the supervisor of Deutsch Welle Club—who argued on her speech, “I hope this seminar will be able to motivate all of you to learn more about foreign language and improve your language skill.” It is also expected to change the students’ mindset in order not to be underestimate and not to give up on their big dreams because they have to “Mach jeden Tag einen kleinen Schritt und Hӧren nie Auf”_ (Take Small Steps Everyday and Never Stop).
